HARRISBURG PA – The New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program,
designed to transition racehorses from their careers on the track into a
productive “adoptive” program suitable for both the equine and her/his new
“family,” has been selected for the United States Harness Writers Association’s
President’s Award, as announced by the president of USHWA, harness racing’s
leading media organization, Tim Bojarski.
Over 6000 retired Standardbred and Thoroughbred racehorses have
been placed by New Vocations since its founding in 1992. Many have gone on to
be pleasure horses, and some have been re-educated to participate in other
equine disciplines such as horse show competition. One New Vocations “graduate”
even served as a “stand-in” when the recent movie about Seabiscuit, the
champion racehorse, was made!
New Vocations has two farms in Ohio, Laurelville and Marysville;
one in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania; and one in Lexington, Kentucky. The Executive
Director of the New Vocations program is Dot Morgan, who won the 2012 Unsung
Hero Award from USHWA, and its current Standardbred Program Director is Dot’s
daughter, Winnie Morgan Nemeth, a member of USHWA.
Bojarski notes, “New Vocations is a highly-motivated group of
‘horse people’ who aggressively re-home and re-train retired Standardbred and
Thoroughbred Racehorses. Their plan is simple: determine the horse’s demeanor,
find the horse’s best traits, and then teach the horse a skill that suits her
or him best and will ensure that the animal will be productive forever in its
new home.
“New Vocations is in the process of building the former Mereworth
Farm in Lexington KY, consolidating the group’s efforts and making the new
facility the largest rehabilitation, retraining, re-homing and retirement
facility in the nation. The group’s Standardbred Division led by Winnie Morgan
Nemeth does extraordinary work for our retired warriors of the track, and does
that work with the horse’s best interests uppermost in mind.”
New Vocations will be honored at the “Night Of Champions,” the Dan
Patch Awards Banquet Presented by Hoosier Park, which will take place on
Sunday, February 26 at the Planet Hollywood hotel/casino in Las Vegas.
Information about the banquet and the entire weekend, which will also contain
the annual meetings of USHWA, can be found on the communicators’ website, www.ushwa.org – including links for making hotel reservations
at special rates at Planet Hollywood; banquet tickets; and congratulatory or
acknowledgment ads in the keepsake Souvenir Banquet Journal, annually one of
the best chronicles of a year in North American harness racing.
